WATCH: BAE showcase technology to ‘make a tank invisible’

BAE Systems have ‘made a tank invisible’ with a cloaking device that is capable of masking infrared signatures.

ADAPTIV was developed and patented in Sweden after FMV and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration commissioned BAE Systems in Örnsköldsvik to produce full-scale technology for land vehicles to avoid detection from thermal sensor systems.

BAE say on their website:

“It sounds more like a scene from a Harry Potter movie, but BAE Systems is making the reality possible by developing a unique camouflage system called ADAPTIV, that allows a vehicle to blend into its surroundings, effectively becoming invisible to hostile thermal imaging systems.

With peacekeeping operations now often taking place in deserts, as well as forests and towns all in the same day, ADAPTIV is capable of shielding large pieces of military equipment from detection by allowing vehicles to mimic the temperature of their surroundings to suit varying terrain. It can also make a tank look like other objects, such as a cow or a car, or bushes and rocks.”

The high tech camouflage system uses modules, which look like cells in a honeycomb to cover the flanks of an armoured vehicle. The modules are made of elements that can be cooled or heated up very quickly as well as controlled individually, allowing different patterns to be created.

BAE claim that the technology could be ready to be put into production for CV90 family of vehicles and in the future used on maritime and air vehicles, which might help to turn a helicopter into a cloud or a warship into a wave.